Quality Counts 2007: From Cradle to Career, Connecting American Education From Birth to Adulthood
Report: Quality Counts 2007: From Cradle to Career, Connecting American Education From Birth to Adulthood
Authors: EPE Research Center
Date: January 4, 2007
A child born in Virginia is significantly more likely to experience success
throughout life than the average child born in the United States, while a
child born in New Mexico is likely to face an accumulating series of hurdles
both educationally and economically, according to an analysis published by
Education Week. The analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research
Center is based on the "Chance-for-Success Index," which tracks state efforts
to connect education from preschool through post-secondary education and training.
The index was developed by the EPE Research Center for Quality Counts 2007:
From Cradle to Career, Connecting American Education From Birth to Adulthood,
produced by Education Week with support from the Pew Center on the States.
The Chance-for-Success Index provides a perspective on the importance of education throughout a person's lifetime and is based on 13 indicators that highlight whether young children get off to a good start, succeed in elementary and secondary school, and hit key educational and income benchmarks as adults. Virginia, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire rank at the top of the index, while Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, and New Mexico lag significantly behind the national average in descending order. The 13 indicators that make up the index capture key performance or attainment outcomes at various stages in a person's lifetime or are correlated with later success. For example, in the early-childhood years, indicators include the percent of children living in families that earn a decent wage and the percent of children with at least one parent who has a post-secondary degree -- factors that research shows have an impact on how well children perform in school.
The report also examines the extent to which states have defined what young people need to know and be able to do to move successfully from one stage of education to the next. In general, the report finds far more activity in the early years. For example, 42 states report having early-learning standards aligned with the academic expectations for elementary schools, while 13 states have a formal definition of school readiness. In contrast, to date, there appears to be far more goodwill than actual policy results when it comes to aligning high school graduation standards with college- and workforce-readiness standards. Only 11 states, for example, have adopted a formal definition of college readiness.
